Railway track aligner



Feb. 9, 1960 B. GEIER RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 19, 1955 INVENTOR erfzan( Gen er BY @Mn "AT'TORNEYS- B. GEIER 2,924,133

RAILWAY TRACK ALAGNER Feb. 9, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed A11-g. 19, 1955 INVENTQR erzzard' e e 7 United States Patent() RAILWAY TRACK ALIGNER Bernard Geier, Moscow, Pa., assignor to Railway Track Works Company, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 19, 1955, Serial No. 529,469

1 Claim. (Cl. 104-8) My invention relates to a railway track aligner.

A purpose of my invention is to provide an aligner for railway track that is at once highly effective and comparatively simple and quite economical, both in manufacture and use.

A further purpose of my invention is to provide such an aligner which may with great ease and expedition be shifted to move the railroad track in either sidewise direction, but yet is by no means complicated or expens1ve.

Further purposes will be found in the specication and the claim.

My invention is illustrated in the drawings by an embodiment chosen from the standpoint of convenience in illustration, satisfactory operation, and clear demonstration of the principles involved.

Figure 1 is a perspective of an embodiment of my invention. l

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of a slight variation of this embodiment, having the handle on the opposite side of the casing, with the particular view leaving out a number of things that are part of the actual structure, to wit: the part that is on the carriage is distinguished from the part that contacts the rail and the ground, and also most of the tubing and also the dogs which hold the L-shaped members in place.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of Figure 2, omitting the top end members of the body, the L-shaped members and the nuts thereon.

Figure I4 is a longitudinal section of the hydraulic portion, with the piston rod shown in elevation.

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view the same as Figure 4, except that the outer walls of the piston rod are shown in section. Y.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary view showing the top of the L-shaped member together with associated nuts.

In the particular embodiment of my invention shown in the drawings, body 10 extends across from rail to rail, and is made up of two parallel horizontal spaced beams 12 and 14, joined at the ends by top end pieces 16 and 17, and lower end piece 18 or abutment member 19. The beams can be in the form of channels facing toward each other, for example. The top end pieces have top portion 20, rod 22 extending across the top near the inside, side pieces 24 (only the nearer of which is shown), and in the top, member 28 with a hole therein to support part of a clamping means to be hereinafter described.

At opposite ends of the structure, axles 36 and 38, respectively, are mounted, one of them for the wheel 40 with the inner flange 42 and smaller outer flange 43, and the other one for the wheel 44 without any ange.

Mounting for the respective axles is provided by lower end piece 18 in the case of axle 36 and abutment member 19 in the other. Each of these has side pieces 50 and 52 respectively, and each has cross pieces, 54 and 56 respectively, in which the axles are mounted, butin abutfice ment member 19, the lower part projects to form an abutment 60.

Extending down through the previously mentioned hole -in member 28, is clamping means 62, consisting of L-shaped members 64 and adjusting nut 66 with lever rod 68 welded thereto, and locking nut 70. The L-shaped member, which can, for example, be formed of tubing, has a screw thread on top on which the adjusting nut and locking nut are put to x the point at which its lowermost position will be, and to tighten the entire. assembly so that turning the lever rod 68 will turn the L-shaped member. Running from the frame down to a position on the L-shaped member is coil spring 75, which tends to bring the L-shaped member up when free to so move until it reaches the point where collar 77 reaches the hole.

Standing up in the space between the beams is hydraulic mechanism 84. On the outside of this is a casing 86, with two lugs 88 (only the nearer one of which is shown) riding in the respective slots 90 (only theV nearer of which is shown). The slots 90 are formed respectively on the bottom of the intermediate portion of each beam by a space between angle 92 and reenforce-V ment 94 on the bottom of the beam, angle 92 being held on at opposite ends by bolts 96. Y Inside the casing 86, attached to the top thereof, is

hollow piston rod 98 extending down longitudinally andk having thereon piston 100. Cooperating with the piston is cylinder 1132 which extends up into the casing around the piston and whose ends 104 and 106 together with the side walls form chambers 108 and 110. Hydraulic pres-g sure connections 112 and 114 extending down the in.

terior of the piston rod to opposite sides of the piston provide for admission of hydraulic pressure to these chambers to move the cylinder up or down relatively to the piston. to which is attached foot 118 by pivot element 120.

The foot consists of bow member 122, which is a broad channel with its open side downward, in the shape of an arc concave downward with pivot element 120 at.,

both ends and end pieces 128 and 130, which are at pieces of fairly large size, as for example 6 inches longitudinally and 71/2 inches across the foot, which are fastened to the ends of the bow piece, as by-welding, in such a way as to present a bottom face which is sloping upwardly and outwardly from the rest of the foot at an inclination which is preferably about 19% degrees.

Lever 136 is pivoted at 138 in the center of the top of one of the beams. Its larger end extends upward to handle 140, while its smaller end extends downward to longitudinal slot 142 toward the end of this end, which surrounds one of the lugs 88 beyond where the lug 88 passes through slot 9d on the bottom of the beam.

'Ihe pressure for the chambers 108 and 114) is supplied by way of pump driven by gasoline motor 152, and operated in conjunction with storage tank 154vfor hydraulic fluid, all located on carriage portion 156. The pump, motor and tank can be of any suitable standard form adequate to develop the pressure needed, and are therefore shown merely diagrammatically. Pressure of 1800 pounds per square inch is suitable, with a piston area which would develop 10 tons of actual force' in the sidewise direction when pushing against the rail. The pressure fluid can be of any suitable kind, such as, for example, hydraulic oil. Suitable control valves (not shown), well known in the art, controlled from control panel 158, can cut the pressure connection otf altogether or can direct the pressure fluid through the appropriate line of hose set up to produce pressure in the cham- Patented Feb. 9, 19:50 ,e

At the lower end of the cylinder s pin 116,y

162 thereon and an additional wheel`164 underneath, to p facilitate the handling of the device as a whole.

Iii' operation, the device is set up withv wheel 40 on one rail and wheel'44'on theother, abutment tlabutting` on the. insidev ofthe latter rail. The L-shapedmernbers are turned by means of'lever rods 68` to bringthem under the base ofthe respective railsafterdue adjustment of their longitudinal position has been made, ifnecessary,

by means ofthe adjusting nut 66and`` locking nut 70.

The hydraulic` power willv be` applied to expand the hydraulic` mechanism and thus force the foot gradually into the ground and over inthe direction ofthe other rail untill it gets a.rm seating. When a rm seating has been attained, the hydraulic input to thecylinder will be..

continued" at a higher rate, and thecasing 86 will push against the body by means of the lugs, together with the side of the hydraulic casing bearing against the rod 22 in the.top endpiece 16 or 17. The rail will thus be pushed' over to putit into perfect alignment. The push deliveredl by this device is such that itwill at the same timepermit` th'ezweight ofthe device to bear down on the railwhich isl being pushed'and, .along with the weight of railand tie itself;,preventit from going up out of vertical alignment.

If'iperchance the push should be too great and the rail should be.pushed somewhat beyond the point of perfect lateralalignmennthe leverrcan readily be pulled back the other way, after suitable retraction of the cylinder, thusY setting the casing'in the opposite direction, and the whole process can be repeated in the oppositeV direction.

We thus have an extremely simple, inexpensive device which nevertheless is very easy to use, requires only a very small crew, and can be shifted from one direction to" another with the ,utmost ease, and is highly effective in doingL its job.

When alignment hasbeencompleted at one p oint, the lgshapedmembersican be removed from under the rail and the.whol'e car moved to the4 next spot at which work is'desired and'the alignmentprocess repeated.

In view of my inventionand disclosure variationsV and modifications. to meetindividual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the..

art, to obtain all or part of the, benets of my invention Without copying the structure shown,` and I, theref0re,.

claim` all such insofar as they fall within'thereasonable spirit and scope of my claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim asV structure having two horizontal parallel spaced beams, connections between" the beamsat "theeuds' thereof, axlesJ on said parallel beam structure extending out longitudinally from each end thereof, wheels on the axles, the wheels at one end being flangedon the inside edge and at the other end unanged, said parallel beam structure having connected theretoyanend abutment extending below the beam structure at the end where the wheel is not flanged, and the far edge' of said abutment-being spaced along'thelbeamffrom the far edge oftheange a distance` equal to` the distancei between the inneredges` ofi` the heads of the rails of a track, Lshaped members mounted on the ends of said structure to pivot about the vertical.

legs of'the L on a vertical'axs, the bottom leg of the L in a variable `position engaging and gripping the bottom of the base of the rails, walls forming horizontal guideway means along the bottom of the intermediate part of each beam of the structure, an elongated casing extending from above intothe spaceA between the beams and having'lugs extending into the guideway means toA ride` therein, a piston rodl mounted on the inside. ofthevtop end of the casingandextendingin' a longitudinal direction down in the inside thereof, a piston on the end of the piston rod, aicylinder extending into thecasing-from below and surrounding the piston and closed at the ends to form hydraulic compartments, a source of hydraulic power connectedgthrough valving meansito'the'comparb4 ments, a foot having center structure, the top of which is pivoted to thel lower end of" the cylinder andhaving. two end pieces having hat bottom `surfaces outwardly and upwardly inclined at a slope less than 45 degrees, and alever pivoted to the top of the center to one ofthe beams andhavinga long-end extending upward, and ending in a handle and a* short end extending downward and having wallslformingea longitudinal slot in the end thereof, said slot receiving one of the lugs ofsaidr casing, the lever-in-one position disposing the casing diagonally directedj-toward one rail and-in another position disposing the casing diagonally directed toward Athe other rail.

ReferenceszCitetl in: the lef of' this patent p UNITED'STATES PATENTSL 978,858 

